29-30th March, Vancouver, BC

Back in Vancouver, snow was falling, ironic as it is supposed to be spring conditions. Sitting in the office on Saturday watching the snow fall and fall as large clumps sliding off the building was quite nice.

By the following the day the snow had all melted. Here is a shot from my apartment window.

After a big half day at work on Sunday, Leo called up and asked if I would like to come fly his kite at Jericho Beach. Why not? It was a beautiful spring day in Vancouver, a balmy 8 degrees Celsius. We caught a taxi and the driver spoke loudly to his mate on his mobile phone in pahsskwami or some language like that for the whole trip which we thought was quite rude. The wind was gusty and awesome to fly a kite with. The sun poked it’s head from the clouds for most of the afternoon while Hornado and I got the kite in the air. Leo was getting in some practice before heading to Mexico for some kite surfing. Leo dominated and I went better than the last time. Towards the end I swooped some kids walking along the beach unintentionally and landed the kite numerous times like a John Denver plane ride. Ooops! It was a great way to spend an afternoon. Vancouverites love seeing the sun and if it isn’t raining they embrace the fine(-ish) weather.

A few beers at the local sailing club and then back into town. Leo and I caught up with Belly, the guy that pushed me around the slopes of Whistler months previous, We were lucky as the Loose Moose did $6.95 surf and turf. We washed that down with a few tins with another bloke and his missus, who we have snowboarded with, Jason.

19th July, Raven Camp, SK

Apart from work, Leo had another brilliant plan. We found a nearby track with a hill and we made a dirt jump and covered it with ply. We went dirtboarding! We had some awesome spills but we got some great air!! Leo tweaked out a few but mine was more cannonball style. Later we took the kite and board to the airstrip where Leo got a few kiteboard runs in. The kite gets some speed up and Leo was carving his way along the strip. I had a go of the kite and my first turn took the kite straight into the ground. I got the hang of it later. We drove into the wind with Leo flying from the back of the truck. A cool day! All in a days work I say.

13th July – Raven Camp

Learnt more about how to log core today from Steve and Dave. The team is quite young and it is good fun.

Another plan. Leo said “Come check the rig!” We did then we went to the airstrip. Consistent moderate to strong wind is unusual here. We got to the airstrip and Leo pulled out the kite. It is a trainer kite for kite boarding and kite surfing. I was the wingman which was best as the wind was really strong to the point that it was dragging him down the strip. Lots of fun. Brendo flew past in the chopper and his comments to the chopper pilot about us doing our environmental base line study to determine wind velocities didn’t work.

That evening we went fishing at Kewen Lake again. I had a terrible time and caught one fish and lost six of the nine lures I bought. We ended up talking shit and drinking white rum in the moss by the side of the lake. We fished until about 11:30pm and it was still twilight. The twilight here is amazing, it gets dark (blue) at around midnight and dawn starts at about 3am. Brendo caught another belter and the bugs were everywhere. Thanks to our uber-bug spray we were fine.